To Ragged Ass Road and Back Again

Ragged Ass Road. It’s a real place, by the way. How much more descriptive can one get?

Last Wednesday my husband and I made a ‘spur of the moment’ trip to Yellowknife, NWT – no big deal unless you know where Yellowknife is… As the capital of the North West Territories, it is FAR from what most people call ‘civilization’, with very few stops in between. In total we drove 3144 kilometres, spent 37 hours in the vehicle, and used 435 litres of fuel – not bad for a four day road trip!

Despite the fact that most of my family had visited Yellowknife on various occasions, I had never managed to make it there during our two years in the NWT. I mentioned the fact and voila – off we went! I was not disappointed.

Yellowknife is a very unique city. Challenges include permafrost, although much of the city is also built on the rocks that surround Great Slave Lake. ‘Old Town’ is extremely picturesque with its quirky architecture and various ‘lawn ornaments’ like giant boulders or derelict fishing vessels. This is also where you can see the many colourful houseboats anchored just off shore, local residents’ answer to high taxes and the ultimate in ‘squatter’s rights’, I suppose.

Though we were there for little more than 24 hours, we packed a lot into our stay. (Thanks in part to the midnight sun, of course…) Enjoy just a few highlights from this scenic tour.